24 January 2018: Bottlenecks, constraints, call them what you like. Every operation has to deal with the shifting nature of processing pain points as the orebody is progressively mined. Heterogeneity of ore can sometimes be blended to produce a consistent feed to a plant but more often than not operators need to deal with the variability in the feed’s metallurgical properties. So it’s important to know how big an issue the variability in the mine plan is for the processing production plan and in a recent Integrated Extraction Simulator (IES) project, that’s exactly what was investigated.

First the CRC ORE team had to integrate data from multiple point solutions: photometric-based particle size distribution analysis system, dispatch system, process control system and conveyor based detectors. The data was imported into IES to simulate every ore block to be mined in 2018 – over 4,500 blocks. The IES exercise used an integrated flowsheet containing blasting and comminution models, mass simulation, automated blast design, throughput maximisation and grind size constraint.

Only IES has all of these features, only IES can run them all simultaneously, and only IES can do it all in 30 minutes. The whole exercise took the CRC ORE team about two days to set up and execute.

To put that in perspective we estimate it would require about a day to simulate one block using the currently available commercial products - or over 10 years for the lot! For that reason, no one attempts to do it. What typically occurs is that they instead make very high-level estimates, which mostly lead to production targets being missed, or value opportunities being lost. Importantly, the project identified opportunities to use higher intensity blasting to increase throughput. One of the project deliverables was a heat map.

The image shows the ore blocks (colored) to be mined in an upcoming year.

The colors of the blocks denote the potential mill throughput uplift to be gained by using Mine-to-Mill.

12 June 2018: A new online tool, GE.View, is giving the Western Australian minerals industry the power to assess and rank opportunities for increased productivity via application of Grade Engineering® on a deposit-by-deposit basis from their own or public domain data.

The development of the innovative tool was led by the Cooperative Research Centre for Optimising Resource Extraction (CRC ORE). It was developed with support from the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia.

The tool is being made freely available to the industry by CRC ORE as part of its commitment to delivering significant economic opportunities for the Australian minerals industry.

15 March 2018: CRC ORE took centre stage at the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia’s March Sundowner in Perth. Over 50 Mining industry participants attended the 15 March event held in Perth. The event was opened by the Hon Bill Johnston MLA, Minister for Mines and Petroleum; Commerce and Industrial Relations; Electoral Affairs; Asian Engagement. He spoke strongly about the importance of innovation and collaboration in the mining sector and commended the work of CRC ORE on GE View and in establishing the Kalgoorlie Hub.

There are a host of mining related events coming up. Following is a list of key events that CRC ORE will be keenly involved with, either in a presenting capacity or supporting as a sponsor. Wherever possible, CRC ORE supports a collaborative approach to events as we have found more penetrative engagement in teaming up with our Participants.

10 April 2015:Interim CRC ORE CEO, Joe Pease, tells the AusIMM Bulletin that at a time when the industry desperately seeks productivity change, CRC ORE has added a range of tools that will go a long way towards delivering the promised benefits of integration.

News - Grade Engineering

13 March 2018: CRC ORE mining participants continue collaborating with CRC ORE’s Innovation Delivery Group investigating the next stage of Grade Engineering projects. This year has seen the commencement of three new site utilisation projects all focusing on different Grade Engineering aspects.

13 March 2018: A new production trial study has been flagged for Minera San Cristobal (MSC). The focus of the study is to upgrade ~400kt of marginal grade Zn, Pb and Ag ore via Grade Engineering screening and then campaign the upgraded product through the concentrator over several days to quantify concentrator impacts due to Grade Engineering.

15 February 2017: Summit Mining International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, has kick-started a Grade Engineering® Study on its Minera San Cristobal mine in Bolivia. An intensive regime of test work and trials has provided valuable data to make a rapid assessment of Grade Engineering® Screening opportunities.

1 November 2016: The BHP Billiton Mining for Value project is exploring opportunities to maximise copper output at their Minera Escondida Limitada mine in Chile. CRC ORE has been closely engaged with Escondida personnel in two aspects of the project - Grade Engineering® and the Integrated Extraction Simulator (IES).

1 June 2016: Anglo American is investigating possible fast-track implementation options at its Los Bronces site based on economic value identified in an extensive Grade Engineering Advanced concept study.

News - IES

24 January 2018: Bottlenecks, constraints, call them what you like. Every operation has to deal with the shifting nature of processing pain points as the orebody is progressively mined. Heterogeneity of ore can sometimes be blended to produce a consistent feed to a plant but more often than not operators need to deal with the variability in the feed’s metallurgical properties. So it’s important to know how big an issue the variability in the mine plan is for the processing production plan and in a recent Integrated Extraction Simulator (IES) project, that’s exactly what was investigated.

15 June 2017: CRC ORE’s Integrated Extraction Simulator (IES) is being used to help identify the throughput boost from Grade Engineering® for the San Cristobal mine. Sumitomo is using IES to help determine the most valuable strategy for the site.

30 October 2016: For an operating site, there is often no shortage of data. But how can a site harvest the data and harness the insights into profits? CRC ORE is working with participants and their big data to support a new breed of models for the minerals industry.

26 May 2016:CRC ORE recently commenced its first project with a Participant site utilising the Integrated Extraction Simulator (IES). IES is a cloud based simulation platform for the mineral industry that supports multi-component modelling from blasting to concentration.

News - Collaboration

05 February 2018: CRC ORE is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Sabina Shugg AM to the role of Director of the newly created Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mining Innovation Hub. Sabina will be relocating to Kalgoorlie to commence the Hub Director role in early April 2018.

30 June 2017: An industry-led technology Mining Innovation Hub in Kalgoorlie-Boulder is a step closer after all parties engaged in the consultation phase showed overwhelming support for the Hub concept.

30 June 2017: As part of CRC ORE’s integrated technology program centred around Delivery Themes, a two-day workshop was held bringing together ideas and capability to further progress the Instrumenting the Bench (ITB) concept.

14 February 2017: General Manager – Stakeholder Engagement, Clytie Dangar, reports on a recent engagement between QUT and CRC ORE which started with a two-day a week secondment to the CRC ORE offices and resulted in identification of a tangible application for their work in the field.

20 February 2017: A scoping workshop has been conducted as part of the next stage of the Orica-CRC ORE partnership. ORICA personnel visited CRC ORE’s Brisbane office recently to map out partnership activities in detail.

30 October 2016: CRC ORE and University of Queensland PhD student, Cristián Carrasco, is taking up an exciting role in the mining industry. The new role with BHP based in Chile, directly applies skills from his time working within CRC ORE’s technical team and completing his studies, into an exciting new opportunity within a major organisation in the mining industry.

22 June 2016:The first full meeting of CRC ORE’s Implementation Council was held in Brisbane on 22 June, with a who’s who of the minerals sector around the table and dialing in, joining together to look at how to supercharge CRC ORE’s research to commercialisation pipeline and innovation pathway.

27 May 2016:CRC ORE was a proud sponsor of a student hackathon organised by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), adjoining the 'Mining & Energy in 2025 and Beyond' symposium.

News - CRC ORE updates

24 January 2018: CRC ORE has been involved in a number of high profile events in recent months. Read more about CRC ORE’s Annual Assembly line up and a successful site-based innovation leadership talk with Sumitomo at IMARC2017. CRC ORE also cooperated with METS Ignited to organise an initial consultation session for the consideration of a new CRC for the mining industry at IMARC. A couple of short courses were held – one on Geometallurgy in Tasmania and the respected Gold Plant Operators Course which was run in Kalgoorlie late last year.

We are in the process of putting together the schedule for the coming year. Stay tuned for a listing of upcoming events in the next edition.

5 April 2018: CRC ORE's Grade Engineering modelling programs have been strengthened over the summer thanks to the work of four motivated students who joined CRC ORE for our inaugural vacation intern program. Alex Perera, James Bamford, and Jacob Rogers joined us from The University of Queensland (UQ). Samantha Maslin joined us from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) with the support of Austmine via its women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) initiative. Hear more about their work by clicking on the video below.

30 June 2017: Two of CRC ORE’s Board Members have been recognised for excellence in their chosen fields in recent months. Dr Sue Keay has just been named one of Australia’s first Superstars of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This follows news that Joe Pease has been recognised in two prestigious mining industry awards. Also in recent months, CRC ORE was awarded a high commendation for an “exceptional paper demonstrating excellence” in the CEEC Medal 2017 round.

2 November 2015:The Directors of CRC ORE are very pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Ben Adair as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Australian mining innovation hub, CRC ORE Limited.

26 May 2015:CRC ORE is set to be funded for a second six year term with the Australian Government flagging $34.45 million to support vital ongoing work in improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the minerals extraction industry.